In digital picture processing a range of methods exist which enable the recognition of individual objects in pictures. One example of this is the so-called “template matching” method which looks for an object using a simple copy of an image of the object.
Another method known from technology is the so-called “graph matching” method which is described in the German patent specification DE 4406020.
A method of automated recognition of one or more structures in digitised picture data is also described in the publication DE 19837004.
A disadvantage of the methods known in technology is that simple matching methods which can be carried out with a comparatively moderate amount of computation are less flexible and soon reach their limits, whereas more powerful and more flexible methods are associated with a very high amount of computation.